Applying templates to customize presentation of content based on surface type

ABSTRACT

An online system receives a request to generate presentation content for presentation to a user. The online system receives a set of content items and identifies a surface for presenting the presentation information to the user. For example, the surface may be a voice only surface, a voice and graphical display, a graphical display only. Based on the identified surface, the online system ranks the set of content items. The online system then determines presentation information for a subset of the content items and transmits instructions to present the presentation information at the surface.

BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates generally to presenting content items in anonline system, and more particularly to customizing the presentation ofcontent items.

Online systems may provide newsfeeds and daily updates to usersincluding many types of content items. Content items are personalized tothe user's interests, and may include world news and social news. It isvaluable for an online system to promote content with which a viewinguser is likely to interact through actions such as liking, sharing,commenting, and performing other types of user engagement.

It is increasingly common for users to access the online system throughmultiple client devices. Client devices may have different presentationsurface types, such as an audio only output, a graphical display only,or an audio and graphical output. Additionally, client devices may havesmaller or larger graphical displays. Different client devices withdifferent surface types may make it difficult to consume particulartypes of content items. For example, a user may be unable to correctlyaccess content items including graphical elements such as photos orvideos on a client device with only audio output. Similarly, a user maybe unable to correctly access content items including audio elements ona client device with only a graphical display.

Presenting content items that are difficult to access or difficult tointeract with can negatively impact the experience of the viewing user,even if the content items are otherwise relevant to the user. This canreduce the efficiency of the user interface of the client device as theinformation presented may be difficult for the user to understand.Similarly, even presentation of surface-appropriate content may be lessefficient, as the user may be distracted by content that is notappropriate for the surface type.

SUMMARY

The above and other issues are addressed by an online system thatretrieves ranked content items (e.g., from an existing newsfeed manager)and re-ranks the content items. A template is applied to customize thepresentation of the content item based at least in part on the surfacetype associated with a client device on which they will be presented. Byre-ranking the content items and selecting templates that are compatiblewith the surface type of the client device, the online system mayimprove the accessibility and understandability of the content items tothe user of the client device.

In various embodiments, the online system receives a request from aclient device to generate content items to present to a user of theclient device. The online system receives a set of content itemsavailable for presentation to the user. The online system thenidentifies a surface type for presenting the content items to the user.The surface type may be voice only, voice and graphical, graphicaldisplay only, or the like. Based on the identified surface type, theonline system ranks the set of content items such that content itemsthat are compatible with the surface type are more likely to bepresented to the user. For example, a content item including a set ofphotos is more likely to be presented on a client device with agraphical display than on a client device with voice only outputs.

The online system additionally determines presentation information for asubset of the ranked set of content items. In one embodiment, the onlinesystem selects templates for each of the subset of the content itemsbased on the surface type of the client device. Each template includesempty or modifiable fields that are filled with elements from thecontent items. The online system uses the completed templates togenerate presentation information and transmits the instructions topresent the content items to the client device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system environment in which an onlinesystem operates, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an architecture of the online system, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an architecture of a news summary module,in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a method for selecting content items forpresentation based on a surface type, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method for applying a template to aselected content item for presentation based on a surface type, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an example illustrating applying a template to a selectedcontent item for presentation based on a surface type, in accordancewith an embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a transaction diagram illustrating interaction between anonline system and client devices, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a high-level block diagram illustrating physical components ofa computer used as part or all of one or more of the entities describedherein in one embodiment.

The figures depict various embodiments for purposes of illustrationonly. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the followingdiscussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methodsillustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principlesdescribed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION System Architecture

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system environment 100 for an onlinesystem 120. The system environment 100 shown by FIG. 1 comprises one ormore client devices 110, a network 115, one or more third-party systems130, and the online system 120. In alternative configurations, differentand/or additional components may be included in the system environment100. For example, the online system 120 is a social networking system, acontent sharing network, or another system providing content to users.

The client devices 110 are one or more computing devices capable ofreceiving user input as well as transmitting and/or receiving data viathe network 115. In one embodiment, a client device 110 is aconventional computer system, such as a desktop or a laptop computer.Alternatively, a client device 110 may be a device having computerfunctionality, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobiletelephone, a smartphone, or another suitable device. A client device 110is configured to communicate via the network 115. In one embodiment, aclient device 110 executes an application allowing a user of the clientdevice 110 to interact with the online system 120. For example, a clientdevice 110 executes a browser application to enable interaction betweenthe client device 110 and the online system 120 via the network 115. Inanother embodiment, a client device 110 interacts with the online system120 through an application programming interface (API) running on anative operating system of the client device 110, such as IOS® orANDROID™.

The client devices 110 are configured to communicate via the network115, which may comprise any combination of local area and/or wide areanetworks, using both wired and/or wireless communication systems. In oneembodiment, the network 115 uses standard communications technologiesand/or protocols. For example, the network 115 includes communicationlinks using technologies such as Ethernet, 802.11, worldwideinteroperability for microwave access (WiMAX), 3G, 4G, code divisionmultiple access (CDMA), digital subscriber line (DSL), etc. Examples ofnetworking protocols used for communicating via the network 115 includemultiprotocol label switching (MPLS), transmission controlprotocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), hypertext transport protocol(HTTP), simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), and file transfer protocol(FTP). Data exchanged over the network 115 may be represented using anysuitable format, such as hypertext markup language (HTML) or extensiblemarkup language (XML). In some embodiments, all or some of thecommunication links of the network 115 may be encrypted using anysuitable technique or techniques.

In one embodiment, client devices 110 are associated with users of theonline system 120. For example, the online system 120 may identifyclient devices 110 associated with users of the online system based on alogin received on a client device. A user may have one or moreassociated client devices 110, as shown. In other embodiments, a usermay have additional or fewer client devices 110. The online system 120may additionally associate client devices 110 with an output surfacetype. In one embodiment, an output surface type may be voice only, voiceand visual display, or visual display only. In other embodiments, otheroutput surface types may be associated with client devices 110. Theoutput surface type of a client device 110 includes information aboutavailable types of output data. For example, a voice only client device110 outputs audio data. In another example, a voice and visual displayclient device 110 outputs audio data and graphical data, including text,images, videos, and others. Client devices 110 associated with a visualdisplay surface type may additionally include information associatedwith a display size.

One or more third party systems 130 may be coupled to the network 115for communicating with the online system 120, which is further describedbelow in conjunction with FIG. 2. In one embodiment, a third partysystem 130 is an application provider communicating informationdescribing applications for execution by a client device 110 orcommunicating data to client devices 110 for use by an applicationexecuting on the client device. In other embodiments, a third partysystem 130 provides content or other information for presentation via aclient device 110. A third party system 130 may also communicateinformation to the online system 120, such as advertisements, content,or information about an application provided by the third party system130.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an architecture of the online system 120.The online system 120 shown in FIG. 2 includes a user profile store 200,a content store 205, an action logger module 210, an edge store 220, anewsfeed manager 230, a re-ranking module 240, a template store 250, apresentation module 260, and a web server 270. In other embodiments, theonline system 120 may include additional, fewer, or different componentsfor various applications. Conventional components such as networkinterfaces, security functions, load balancers, failover servers,management and network operations consoles, and the like are not shownso as to not obscure the details of the system architecture.

Each user of the online system 120 is associated with a user profile,which is stored in the user profile store 200. A user profile includesdeclarative information about the user that was explicitly shared by theuser and may also include profile information inferred by the onlinesystem 120. In one embodiment, a user profile includes multiple datafields, each describing one or more attributes of the correspondingonline system user. Examples of information stored in a user profileinclude biographic, demographic, and other types of descriptiveinformation, such as work experience, educational history, gender,hobbies or preferences, location and the like. A user profile may alsostore other information provided by the user, for example, images orvideos. In certain embodiments, images of users may be tagged withinformation identifying the online system users displayed in an image,with information identifying the images in which a user is tagged storedin the user profile of the user. A user profile in the user profilestore 200 may also maintain references to actions by the correspondinguser performed on content items in the content store 205 and stored inthe action logger module 210.

While user profiles in the user profile store 200 are frequentlyassociated with individuals, allowing individuals to interact with eachother via the online system 120, user profiles may also be stored forentities such as businesses or organizations. This allows an entity toestablish a presence on the online system 120 for connecting andexchanging content with other online system users. The entity may postinformation about itself, about its products or provide otherinformation to users of the online system 120 using a brand pageassociated with the entity's user profile. Other users of the onlinesystem 120 may connect to the brand page to receive information postedto the brand page or to receive information from the brand page. A userprofile associated with the brand page may include information about theentity itself, providing users with background or informational dataabout the entity.

The content store 205 stores objects that each represent various typesof content. Examples of content represented by an object include a pagepost, a status update, a photograph, a video, a link, a shared contentitem, a gaming application achievement, a check-in event at a localbusiness, a brand page, or any other type of content. Online systemusers may create objects stored by the content store 205, such as statusupdates, photos tagged by users to be associated with other objects inthe online system 120, events, groups or applications. In someembodiments, objects are received from third-party applications orthird-party applications separate from the online system 120. In oneembodiment, objects in the content store 205 represent single pieces ofcontent, or content “items.” Hence, online system users are encouragedto communicate with each other by posting text and content items ofvarious types of media to the online system 120 through variouscommunication channels. This increases the amount of interaction ofusers with each other and increases the frequency with which usersinteract within the online system 120.

The action logger module 210 receives communications about user actionsinternal to and/or external to the online system 120, populating anaction log with information about user actions. Examples of actionsinclude adding a connection to another user, sending a message toanother user, uploading an image, reading a message from another user,viewing content associated with another user, and attending an eventposted by another user. In addition, a number of actions may involve anobject and one or more particular users, so these actions are associatedwith the particular users as well and stored in the action logger module210.

The action logger module 210 may be used by the online system 120 totrack user actions on the online system 120, as well as actions on thirdparty systems 130 that communicate information to the online system 120.Users may interact with various objects on the online system 120, andinformation describing these interactions is stored in the action loggermodule 210. Examples of interactions with objects include: commenting onposts, sharing links, checking-in to physical locations via a clientdevice 110, accessing content items, and any other suitableinteractions. Additional examples of interactions with objects on theonline system 120 that are included in the action logger module 210include: commenting on a photo album, communicating with a user,establishing a connection with an object, joining an event, joining agroup, creating an event, authorizing an application, using anapplication, expressing a preference for an object (“liking” theobject), and engaging in a transaction. Additionally, the action loggermodule 210 may record a user's interactions with advertisements on theonline system 120 as well as with other applications operating on theonline system 120. In some embodiments, data from the action loggermodule 210 is used to infer interests or preferences of a user,augmenting the interests included in the user's user profile andallowing a more complete understanding of user preferences.

The action logger module 210 may also store user actions taken on athird party system 130, such as an external website, and communicated tothe online system 120. For example, an e-commerce website may recognizea user of an online system 120 through a social plug-in enabling thee-commerce website to identify the user of the online system 120.Because users of the online system 120 are uniquely identifiable,e-commerce websites, such as in the preceding example, may communicateinformation about a user's actions outside of the online system 120 tothe online system 120 for association with the user. Hence, the actionlogger module 210 may record information about actions users perform ona third party system 130, including webpage viewing histories,advertisements that were engaged, purchases made, and other patternsfrom shopping and buying. Additionally, actions a user performs via anapplication associated with a third party system 130 and executing on aclient device 110 may be communicated to the action logger module 210 bythe application for recordation and association with the user in theaction log.

In one embodiment, the edge store 220 stores information describingconnections between users and other objects on the online system 120 asedges. Some edges may be defined by users, allowing users to specifytheir relationships with other users. For example, users may generateedges with other users that parallel the users' real-life relationships,such as friends, co-workers, partners, and so forth. Other edges aregenerated when users interact with objects in the online system 120,such as expressing interest in a page on the online system 120, sharinga link with other users of the online system 120, and commenting onposts made by other users of the online system 120. Edges may connecttwo users who are connections in a social network, or may connect a userwith an object in the system. In one embodiment, the nodes and edgesform a complex social network of connections indicating how users arerelated or connected to each other (e.g., one user accepted a friendrequest from another user to become connections in the social network)and how a user is connected to an object due to the user interactingwith the object in some manner (e.g., “liking” a page object, joining anevent object or a group object, etc.). Objects can also be connected toeach other based on the objects being related or having some interactionbetween them.

An edge may include various features each representing characteristicsof interactions between users, interactions between users and objects,or interactions between objects. For example, features included in anedge describe a rate of interaction between two users, how recently twousers have interacted with each other, a rate or an amount ofinformation retrieved by one user about an object, or numbers and typesof comments posted by a user about an object. The features may alsorepresent information describing a particular object or user. Forexample, a feature may represent the level of interest that a user hasin a particular topic, the rate at which the user logs into the onlinesystem 120, or information describing demographic information about theuser. Each feature may be associated with a source object or user, atarget object or user, and a feature value. A feature may be specifiedas an expression based on values describing the source object or user,the target object or user, or interactions between the source object oruser and target object or user; hence, an edge may be represented as oneor more feature expressions.

The edge store 220 also stores information about edges, such as affinityscores for objects, interests, and other users. Affinity scores, or“affinities,” may be computed by the online system 120 over time toapproximate a user's interest in an object or in another user in theonline system 120 based on the actions performed by the user. A user'saffinity may be computed by the online system 120 over time toapproximate the user's interest in an object, in a topic, or in anotheruser in the online system 120 based on actions performed by the user.Multiple interactions between a user and a specific object may be storedas a single edge in the edge store 220, in one embodiment.Alternatively, each interaction between a user and a specific object isstored as a separate edge. In some embodiments, connections betweenusers may be stored in the user profile store 200, or the user profilestore 200 may access the edge store 220 to determine connections betweenusers.

In a case wherein a user accesses the online system 120 via a standarddevice such as a laptop or desktop computer or a mobile phone, theonline system 120 identifies stories likely to be of interest to a userthrough a “newsfeed” presented to the user. A story presented to a userdescribes an action taken by an additional user connected to the userand identifies the additional user. In some embodiments, a storydescribing an action performed by a user may be accessible to users notconnected to the user that performed the action. The newsfeed manager230 may generate stories for presentation to a user based on informationin the action log 215 and in the edge store 220 or may select candidatestories included in the content store 205. One or more of the candidatestories are selected and presented to a user by the newsfeed manager230. In one embodiment, the newsfeed manager 230 ranks candidate storiesand selects which ones to present in the user's newsfeed based on therankings.

For example, the newsfeed manager 230 receives a request to present oneor more stories to an online system user. The newsfeed manager 230accesses one or more of the user profile store 200, the content store205, the action logger module 210, and the edge store 220 to retrieveinformation about the identified user. For example, stories or otherdata associated with users connected to the identified user areretrieved. The retrieved stories or other data are analyzed by thenewsfeed manager 230 to identify candidate content items, which includecontent having at least a threshold likelihood of being relevant to theuser. For example, stories associated with users not connected to theidentified user or stories associated with users for which theidentified user has less than a threshold affinity are discarded ascandidate stories. Based on various criteria, the newsfeed manager 230selects one or more of the candidate stories for presentation to theidentified user. In one embodiment, the newsfeed manager 230 generates aranked list of content items with each content item's ranking determinedby the user's affinity with that content item.

In various embodiments, the newsfeed manager 230 presents stories to auser through a newsfeed including a plurality of stories selected forpresentation to the user. The newsfeed may include a limited number ofstories (e.g., retrieved from a newsfeed generator with an existingranking) or may include a complete set of candidate stories. The numberof stories included in a newsfeed may be determined in part by a userpreference included in user profile store 200. The newsfeed manager 230may also determine the order in which selected stories are presented viathe newsfeed. For example, the newsfeed manager 230 determines that auser has a highest affinity for a specific user and increases the numberof stories in the newsfeed associated with the specific user or modifiesthe positions in the newsfeed where stories associated with the specificuser are presented.

The newsfeed manager 230 may also account for actions by a userindicating a preference for types of stories and selects stories havingthe same, or similar, types for inclusion in the newsfeed. Additionally,the newsfeed manager 230 may analyze stories received by the onlinesystem 120 from various users to obtain information about userpreferences or actions from the analyzed stories. This information maybe used to refine subsequent selection of stories for newsfeedspresented to various users.

The news summary module 240 receives a ranked list of content items forpresentation for a user of the online system 120 (e.g., a set of storiesas ranked by the newsfeed manager 230) and generates content to present(presentation information) from the content items based on an identifiedsurface type of a client device 110 (e.g., audio only, graphical only,or both audio and graphical). In one embodiment, the news summary module240 identifies the surface type of a client device 110 in real time asupdates are requested by a user of the client device. In otherembodiments, the news summary module 240 automatically generatespresentation information at designated times or time intervals for aparticular surface type and client device 110. The news summary module240 selects a subset of the content items to present based on the newrankings and applies templates to the selected content items to generatepresentation information that is tailored to the surface type of theclient device 110. Embodiments of the news summary module 240 aredescribed in greater detail below, with reference to FIG. 3.

The web server 270 links the online system 120 via the network 115 tothe one or more client devices 110, as well as to the one or more thirdparty systems 130. The web server 270 serves web pages, as well as othercontent, such as JAVA®, FLASH®, XML and so forth. The web server 270 mayreceive and route messages between the online system 120 and the clientdevice 110, for example, instant messages, queued messages (e.g.,email), text messages, short message service (SMS) messages, or messagessent using any other suitable messaging technique. A user may send arequest to the web server 270 to upload information (e.g., images orvideos) that are stored in the content store 205. Additionally, the webserver 270 may provide application programming interface (API)functionality to send data directly to native client device operatingsystems, such as IOS®, ANDROID™, or BlackberryOS.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an architecture of the news summary module240. The news summary module 240 shown in FIG. 3 includes a surfaceidentification module 300, a re-ranking module 310, a template store320, and a presentation module 330. In other embodiments, the newssummary module 240 may include additional, fewer, or differentcomponents for various applications.

The surface identification module 300 identifies a surface typeassociated with a client device 110. In one embodiment, the surfaceidentification module 300 communicates with a client device 110 uponreceiving a request from the client device for presentation informationto be presented to a user of the online system 120 and identifies asurface type associated with the client device. In another embodiment,the surface identification module 300 stores information on the surfacetype associated with a client device 110 in association with a clientdevice identifier (e.g., in a database indexed by client device ID orclient device model number). In this case, the surface identificationmodule 300 accesses stored surface type information when content itemsare requested or when generating designated updates such as daily newsupdates. For example, the surface identification module 300 may identifya client device 110 to be associated with a voice only surface, a voiceand visual display surface, or another surface type.

The re-ranking module 310 receives a ranked list of content items andre-ranks the content items based on the type of output surfaceassociated with the client device. The ranked list of content items isranked based on an affinity of the user of the client device 110 withthe content items. In one embodiment, the re-ranking module 310retrieves a ranked list of content items from the newsfeed manager 230.The re-ranking module 310 receives an identified surface type from thesurface identification module 300 indicating the surface type of theclient device 110. Based on the identified surface type, the re-rankingmodule 310 re-ranks the ranked list of content items for presentation tothe user of the client device 110 and transmits the re-ranked list ofcontent items to the presentation module 260. An embodiment of there-ranking module 310 boosts the ranking of particular content itemsbased on the type of content item and the surface type. For example, tore-rank the content items, the re-ranking module 310 may calculate are-ranking score for each content item based on one or more of: anaffinity between the user and the content item, types of contentincluded in the content item (text, images, audio, video, etc.), anamount of each type of content included in the content item, contextualinformation (e.g., time of day, whether the user is at home, at work orelsewhere, etc.), the identified surface type, a size of a screen of theclient device 10 (where it has one), a level of engagement with thecontent item by other users (e.g., a number of likes on a socialnetwork), a measure of diversity relative to other content items in theranked list (e.g., if most of the content items are photographs andthere is a single video, the video ranking might be boosted), and thelike.

In one example, the re-ranking module 310 identifies a client device 110with an audio only surface type and re-ranks the ranked list of contentitems such that text only content items (which can be converted to audiousing text-to-speech), content items associated with audio data, andother content items that may be converted to audio data are boosted. Inanother example, the re-ranking module 310 identifies a client device110 with a visual display only surface and re-ranks the ranked list ofcontent items such that text content items, photo content items, andother graphical content items are boosted. In an embodiment, there-ranking module 310 may additionally identify for client devices 110associated with a visual display surface type a visual display size. There-ranking module 310 may re-rank the ranked list of content items basedat least in part on the visual display size. For example, the re-rankingmodule 310 may identify a small visual display size and re-rank theranked list of content items such that text only content items areboosted more highly than photo content items. In another example, there-ranking module 310 may identify a client device 110 has audiocapabilities and large visual display size (such as a laptop) andre-rank the ranked list of content items to boost photo content items,video content items, and larger text content items.

The template store 320 stores and maintains templates that may beapplied to content items to generate presentation information forpresentation to users of the online system 120. A template may include,for example, text, audio, graphical, and/or other elements, as well asmodifiable fields and formatting information to apply to a content itemin generating presentation information. The modifiable fields are filledin using information extracted from the content item. For example,modifiable fields in templates might include of a field for a name of auser who created the content item, a field for the type of content item,a field for a summary of a content item, a field for graphical or videoelements associated with a content item, and the like.

In one embodiment, a template includes instructions for how thepresentation module 330 should fill the fields based on the contentitem. The instructions define how the presentation module 330 shouldextract appropriate information from the content item (and, possibly,other data sources) to complete the template correctly. For example, asimple template for presenting an article shared by one of the user'sfriends might include a name field, an article title field, and anarticle summary field. The instructions for filling the name field mightinclude extracting a user ID of the creator from the content item andusing it to look up the user's name (e.g., in the user profile store200). The instructions for filling the title field might includeidentifying the article's headline (e.g., based on size and locationwithin the article). The instructions may include invoking amachine-learned summarization system. The machine-learned summarizationsystem can be trained using a training set of input articles paired withcorresponding human-generated summaries. Once trained, themachine-learned summarization system is used to extract information fromthe content items and produce summaries similar to those that would beproduced by a human.

The templates are specific to one or more client device surface typesand content item types. Such a template includes modifiable fields thatare customized based on the user, the client device surface type,information in the content item, and/or other factors. Thus,presentation of a given content item can be customized to the particularsurface of the user's client device 110. The template store 320 maystore one or more templates associated with a voice only surface typeand a text only content item. In contrast, a template for the samecontent item and a visual display may just present the article orprovide a text field summarizing the article and why it is beingsuggested along with a link to the full article. For example, if one ofa user's connections in a social network, Ryan, shared an article andtagged the user, a template for a voice only surface might generate theaudio output “Ryan tagged you in an article about satire. Should I readit to you?” while a template for a graphical only surface might generatethe text output “You have been tagged by Ryan in an article titled ‘Howto Tell if an Article Has Been Faked.’ Would you like to view the wholearticle?” along with a link to the article).

In some embodiments, there are multiple templates associated with eachcombination of surface type and content type (and display size, whereappropriate). This may make the presentation of content seem more humanas different phrasings and structures may be used. For example,returning to the example of Ryan sharing an article used above, theremay be multiples templates associated with the combination of voice onlysurface and a shared article that can be used to present the informationthat Ryan tagged the user in an article in different ways (e.g., “Ryantagged you in an article about satire. Should I read it to you?” “Youhave been tagged by Ryan in an article titled ‘How to Tell if an ArticleHas Been Faked.’ Would you like to hear the article?”).

The presentation module 330 receives a re-ranked list of content itemsfor presentation to a user of a client device 110 from the re-rankingmodule 310, selects a subset of the content items based on the newrankings, applies templates to the selected content items to generatepresentation information, and transmits the presentation information tothe client device. In one embodiment, the presentation module 330additionally receives from the re-ranking module 310 the surface type ofthe client device 110 and the display size of the client device. Basedon the surface type and display size of the client device 110 and thecontent item type, the presentation module 330 accesses the templatestore 320 and retrieves a template for each of the content items in there-ranked list of content items. Thus, the presentation informationgenerated by applying the templates may be tailored to the specificoutput surface.

In some embodiments, the presentation module 330 randomly selectsbetween two or more templates associated with the surface type anddisplay size of the client device 110 and the content item type.Alternatively, the presentation module 330 may select between one ormore templates associated with the surface type and display size of theclient device 110 and the content item type based on other criteria,including whether a template has been recently used (e.g., within thelast three content items used to generated presentation information). Ineither case, the use of different templates for similar content itemsthat are presented on the same surface provides variation in thepresentation of content items to users of the online system 120. Thismay make the output seem more “human” and increase user engagement.Regardless of the precise details of how the presentation information isgenerated, the presentation module 330 transmits it to the client device110 to be displayed to the user.

Selecting Content Items for Presentation Based on Surface Type

FIG. 4 is an example illustrating the selection and application of atemplate to a selected content item for presentation based on a surfacetype, in accordance with an embodiment. For the purposes of describingFIG. 4, it is assumed that the news summary module 240 has selected theshared article to be presented to the user. The online system 120determines a type of the content item (in this case, an article thatincludes a video). In one embodiment, content item types include: textonly status updates, photos, videos, audio, short articles (e.g., lessthan 300 words), and long articles (e.g., 300 words or more). Thecontent item types can also include hybrid types, such as: photo withtext caption, short article with images, long article with a video, etc.

As shown in FIG. 4, the user is associated with three different clientdevices 110. One with audio and a visual display 406, one with only avisual display 414, and one with only audio 418. The online system 120identifies the client device 110 that the user is currently using (orwill be using when the presentation information is presented). In otherembodiments, a user may be associated with additional, fewer, ordifferent client devices than shown in FIG. 4.

The online system 120 retrieves the content item 400 from the contentstore 205 and surface type information 402 (e.g., from the client device110 or a database mapping client devices to surface types). The onlinesystem 120 determines the type of the content item 400 and accesses thetemplate store 320 to select a template for the content item 400 basedon the content item type and the surface type information. In oneembodiment, the content item type is stored in association with thecontent item in the content store 205. In another embodiment, the onlinesystem 120 analyzes the content item determine its type (e.g., bydetermining a total number of words, pictures, videos, etc. and applyinga classifier). In other examples, different templates may be used forthe surface types and content item types shown in FIG. 4.

In a case wherein the identified surface type is an audio and visualdisplay 406 (e.g., a laptop computer, a mobile phone, etc.), the onlinesystem 120 may select and apply a template from the template store 320associated with audio and visual presentation information and thecontent item type of the selected content item. Alternatively, theonline system 120 may select between one or more templates associatedwith audio and visual output data and the content item type. In theexample of FIG. 4, the selected template identifies a header 408containing an icon associated with the posting user of the content item,text identifying the posting user of the content item (“Ryan”), thecontent item type (“shared an article”), the timestamp associated withthe content item (“Yesterday at 11:05 am”), and text posted by theposting user of the content item in association with the shared article(“Sean, look at this!”). The online system 120 additionally generatesinformation 410 about the shared article to include in the selectedtemplate. In one embodiment, the online system 120 accesses the sharedarticle to identify keywords, videos, images, text, or metadataassociated with the article. In the example shown, the selected templateincludes a title (“How to Tell if an Article Has Been Faked”), a video412 associated with audio and visual data, and text indicating anassociated timestamp (“Mar. 5, 2019.”) and an excerpt of the sharedarticle (“Lorem ipsum dolor amet . . . ”).

In a case wherein the identified surface type is a visual only display414 (e.g., a smart watch), the online system 120 may select and apply atemplate from the template store 320 associated with visual output dataand the content item type of the selected content item. As in theprevious case, the online system 120 may select between one or moretemplates associated with visual output data and the content item type.In the example of FIG. 4, the selected template identifies text 416 topresent to the user of the visual only client device 110, including aname associated with the posting user of the content item (“Ryan”), thetype of content item (“tagged you in an article”), and an invitation forthe user of the client device 110 to interact with the content item(“Tap to open”). In one embodiment, upon receiving the interaction fromthe user, the client device 110 transmits a request to the online system120 to provide the content item in part or in full. In anotherembodiment, the client device 110 transmits a request to the onlinesystem 120 to provide a summary of the associated content item.

In a case wherein the identified surface type is audio only 418 (e.g., avoice system), the online system 120 may select and apply a templatefrom the template store 320 associated with audio output data and thecontent item type of the selected content item. As in the previous case,the online system 120 may select between one or more templatesassociated with audio output data and the content item type. In theexample of FIG. 4, the selected template identifies audio data 420 topresent to the user of the voice only client device 110 representing thewords “Ryan tagged you in an article about satire. Should I read it toyou?” Based on the selected content item, the audio data includes a nameassociated with the posting user of the content item (“Ryan”), the typeof content item (“tagged you in an article about satire”), and aninvitation for the user of the client device 110 to interact with thecontent item (“Should I read it to you?”). In one embodiment, uponreceiving the interaction from the user, the client device 110 transmitsa request to the online system 120 to access the content item andretrieve audio data representative of the content item to transmit tothe user of the client device.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method for selecting content items forpresentation based on a surface type, in accordance with an embodiment.The steps of FIG. 5 may be performed by the online system 120. Some orall of the steps may be performed by other entities in otherembodiments. In addition, other embodiments may include different and/oradditional steps and the steps may be performed in different orders.

The online system 120 receives 505 a request to generate content itemsfor presentation to a user of a client device 110. The online system 120retrieves 510 content items from a content store 205 and ranks 515 thecontent items. In one embodiment, the online system 120 ranks thecontent items based on a likelihood that the user of the client device110 will interact with the content item upon being presented with thecontent item. The online system 120 identifies 520 the surface type forpresenting the content items to the user. Based on the identifiedsurface, the online system 120 re-ranks 525 the content items anddetermines 530 presentation information for the re-ranked content items.For example, presentation information may specify formatting forelements of the content items. The online system 120 then transmits 535instructions to display the content to the client device 110, theinstructions based on the determined presentation information.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a method for applying a template to aselected content item for presentation based on a surface type, inaccordance with an embodiment. The steps of FIG. 6 may be performed bythe online system 120. Some or all of the steps may be performed byother entities in other embodiments. In addition, other embodiments mayinclude different and/or additional steps and the steps may be performedin different orders.

For a given content item, the online system 120 identifies 605 elementsof the content item. The elements may have different types correspondingto different types of content. For example, elements may include images,video data, and text, as well as users, tagged locations, tagged objectsof the online system, and others. Based on the identified elements, theonline system 120 identifies 610 one or more applicable templates andselects 615 one of the one or more applicable templates. In oneembodiment, the selection is based on the type of surface of the clientdevice 110 as discussed in association with FIG. 3. The online system120 inserts 620 elements of the content item into the selected templateto generate a completed output item to be presented to the user of theclient device 110.

FIG. 7 is a transaction diagram illustrating interaction between anonline system 120 and client devices 710, 720, in accordance with anembodiment. In the embodiment shown, one or more client devices 720transmit 740 user content items to the online system 120. In otherembodiments, additional or fewer client devices may transmit usercontent items. The online system 120 ranks 750 content items forpresentation to the first client device 710. In one embodiment, theonline system 120 may rank received user content items and storedcontent items. The online system 120 communicates with the first clientdevice 710 to identify 760 the surface type of the first client device.Based on the identified surface type, the online system 120 re-ranks 770the content items and applies 775 templates to a subset of the contentitems based on the updated rankings. The online system 120 thentransmits 780 presentation information to the first client device 710for presentation 785 to the user. In another embodiment, the subset ofcontent items may be sent to the first client device 710 and thetemplates may be applied 775 at the first client device. In furtherembodiments, different or additional entities may perform some of theoperations. Additionally, different operations may be performed and/orsome of the operations may be performed in different orders and/or inparallel.

Computer Architecture

FIG. 8 is a high-level block diagram illustrating physical components ofa computer 800 used as part or all of one or more of the entitiesdescribed herein in one embodiment. For example, instances of theillustrated computer 800 may be used as a server operating the messagingsystem 130. Illustrated are at least one processor 802 coupled to achipset 804. Also coupled to the chipset 804 are a memory 806, a storagedevice 808, a keyboard 810, a graphics adapter 812, a pointing device814, and a network adapter 816. A display 818 is coupled to the graphicsadapter 812. In one embodiment, the functionality of the chipset 804 isprovided by a memory controller hub 820 and an I/O hub 822. In anotherembodiment, the memory 806 is coupled directly to the processor 802instead of the chipset 804. In one embodiment, one or more sound devices(e.g., a loudspeaker, audio driver, etc.) is coupled to chipset 804.

The storage device 808 is any non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium, such as a hard drive, compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM),DVD, or a solid-state memory device. The memory 806 holds instructionsand data used by the processor 802. The pointing device 814 may be amouse, track ball, or other type of pointing device, and is used incombination with the keyboard 810 to input data into the computer 800.The graphics adapter 812 displays images and other information on thedisplay 818. The network adapter 816 couples the computer system 800 toa local or wide area network.

As is known in the art, a computer 800 can have different and/or othercomponents than those shown in FIG. 8. In addition, the computer 800 canlack certain illustrated components. In one embodiment, a computer 800acting as a server may lack a keyboard 810, pointing device 814,graphics adapter 812, and/or display 818. Moreover, the storage device808 can be local and/or remote from the computer 800 (such as embodiedwithin a storage area network (SAN)).

As is known in the art, the computer 800 is adapted to execute computerprogram modules for providing functionality described herein. As usedherein, the term “module” refers to computer program logic utilized toprovide the specified functionality. Thus, a module can be implementedin hardware, firmware, and/or software. In one embodiment, programmodules are stored on the storage device 808, loaded into the memory806, and executed by the processor 802.

CONCLUSION

The techniques described above may provide various advantages overexisting systems. As an example, the news summarization approaches mayimprove the efficiency of computing devices when used to access currentinformation. A user's time and effort is not wasted trying to interpretcontent that is not well suited to the surface of the client device theuser is using. Thus, the user interface of the client device may beimproved by providing more efficient access to pertinent andunderstandable information without it being obscured by content that isnot suitable or not easily presented by the client device.

The foregoing description of the embodiments has been presented for thepurpose of illustration; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limitthe patent rights to the precise forms disclosed. Persons skilled in therelevant art can appreciate that many modifications and variations arepossible in light of the above disclosure.

Some portions of this description describe the embodiments in terms ofalgorithms and symbolic representations of operations on information.These algorithmic descriptions and representations are commonly used bythose skilled in the data processing arts to convey the substance oftheir work effectively to others skilled in the art. These operations,while described functionally, computationally, or logically, areunderstood to be implemented by computer programs or equivalentelectrical circuits, microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has alsoproven convenient at times, to refer to these arrangements of operationsas modules, without loss of generality. The described operations andtheir associated modules may be embodied in software, firmware,hardware, or any combinations thereof.

Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may beperformed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules,alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, asoftware module is implemented with a computer program productcomprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code,which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or allof the steps, operations, or processes described.

Embodiments may also relate to an apparatus for performing theoperations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for therequired purposes, and/or it may comprise a general-purpose computingdevice selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer programstored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in anon-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium, or any typeof media suitable for storing electronic instructions, which may becoupled to a computer system bus. Furthermore, any computing systemsreferred to in the specification may include a single processor or maybe architectures employing multiple processor designs for increasedcomputing capability.

Embodiments may also relate to a product that is produced by a computingprocess described herein. Such a product may comprise informationresulting from a computing process, where the information is stored on anon-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium and mayinclude any embodiment of a computer program product or other datacombination described herein.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principallyselected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not havebeen selected to delineate or circumscribe the patent rights. It istherefore intended that the scope of the patent rights be limited not bythis detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on anapplication based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodimentsis intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of thepatent rights, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving a request togenerate a content summary for presentation to a user; receiving a setof content items for the user; identifying a surface for presenting thecontent summary to the user, the surface having a type; ranking the setof content items, the ranking based on the identified type of surface;selecting a subset of the content items based on the rankings;determining presentation information based on the subset of the contentitems, the presentation information including instructions on presentingthe content summary to the user; and transmitting the presentationinformation to the surface.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereindetermining presentation information comprises: for each of the contentitems in the subset of the content items, identifying elements of thecontent item, each element having a content type; identifying one ormore applicable templates based on the content types of the identifiedelements; selecting a template from the one or more applicable templatesbased on the type of output surface; and inserting elements of thecontent item into the selected template to generate presentationinformation for the content item.
 3. The method of claim 2, whereinselecting a template from the one or more applicable templates based atleast in part on the type of output surface further comprises:identifying one or more applicable templates based on the type of outputsurface; and randomly selecting the template from the one or moreapplicable templates.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein selecting atemplate from the one or more applicable templates based on the type ofoutput surface further comprises: identifying one or more applicabletemplates based on the type of output surface; and randomly selecting atemplate from the one or more applicable templates.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the identified surface is a voice only surface, a voiceand graphical display surface, or a graphical display only surface. 6.The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a surface for presenting thecontent summary comprises: obtaining an identifier of a client devicethat the user is currently using; and querying a data store using theidentifier to retrieve information on a surface associated with theclient device.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein ranking the set ofcontent items comprises: calculating a ranking score for each contentitem based on a plurality of factors, the plurality of factorsincluding: an affinity between the user and the content item, a type ofcontent included in the content item, and the identified surface type;and ranking the set of content items according to the ranking scores. 8.A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computerprogram instructions executable by a processor to perform operationscomprising: receiving a request to generate a content summary forpresentation to a user; receiving a set of content items for the user;identifying a surface for presenting the content summary to the user,the surface having a type; ranking the set of content items, the rankingbased on the identified type of surface; selecting a subset of thecontent items based on the rankings; determining presentationinformation based on the subset of the content items, the presentationinformation including instructions on presenting the content summary tothe user; and transmitting the presentation information to the surface.9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein determiningpresentation information comprises: for each of the content items in thesubset of the content items, identifying elements of the content item,each element having a content type; identifying one or more applicabletemplates based on the content types of the identified elements;selecting a template from the one or more applicable templates based onthe type of output surface; and inserting elements of the content iteminto the selected template to generate presentation information for thecontent item.
 10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9,wherein selecting a template from the one or more applicable templatesbased at least in part on the type of output surface further comprises:identifying one or more applicable templates based on the type of outputsurface; and randomly selecting the template from the one or moreapplicable templates.
 11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim9, wherein selecting a template from the one or more applicabletemplates based on the type of output surface further comprises:identifying one or more applicable templates based on the type of outputsurface; and randomly selecting a template from the one or moreapplicable templates.
 12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim8, wherein the identified surface is a voice only surface, a voice andgraphical display surface, or a graphical display only surface.
 13. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein identifying asurface for presenting the content summary comprises: obtaining anidentifier of a client device that the user is currently using; andquerying a data store using the identifier to retrieve information on asurface associated with the client device.
 14. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 8, wherein ranking the set of content itemscomprises: calculating a ranking score for each content item based on aplurality of factors, the plurality of factors including: an affinitybetween the user and the content item, a type of content included in thecontent item, and the identified surface type; and ranking the set ofcontent items according to the ranking scores.
 15. A system comprising:a computer processor for executing computer program instructions; and anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer programinstructions executable by the processor to perform operationscomprising: receiving a request to generate a content summary forpresentation to a user; receiving a set of content items for the user;identifying a surface for presenting the content summary to the user,the surface having a type; ranking the set of content items, the rankingbased on the identified type of surface; selecting a subset of thecontent items based on the rankings; determining presentationinformation based on the subset of the content items, the presentationinformation including instructions on presenting the content summary tothe user; and transmitting the presentation information to the surface.16. The system of claim 15, wherein determining presentation informationcomprises: for each of the content items in the subset of the contentitems, identifying elements of the content item, each element having acontent type; identifying one or more applicable templates based on thecontent types of the identified elements; selecting a template from theone or more applicable templates based on the type of output surface;and inserting elements of the content item into the selected template togenerate presentation information for the content item.
 17. The systemof claim 16, wherein selecting a template from the one or moreapplicable templates based at least in part on the type of outputsurface further comprises: identifying one or more applicable templatesbased on the type of output surface; and randomly selecting the templatefrom the one or more applicable templates.
 18. The system of claim 16,wherein selecting a template from the one or more applicable templatesbased on the type of output surface further comprises: identifying oneor more applicable templates based on the type of output surface; andrandomly selecting a template from the one or more applicable templates.19. The system of claim 15, wherein the identified surface is a voiceonly surface, a voice and graphical display surface, or a graphicaldisplay only surface.
 20. The system of claim 15, wherein identifying asurface for presenting the content summary comprises: obtaining anidentifier of a client device that the user is currently using; andquerying a data store using the identifier to retrieve information on asurface associated with the client device.